An estimated 50 million Americans have osteoarthritis, and perhaps you, like me, are one of them. If not, be advised that your lifetime risk of getting it is 40%, so welcome to the club, maybe not now but in the future. I’m full of good cheer.
Osteoarthritis is the loss of cartilage in knees, hips, shoulders, mostly where there are joints. Humans have cartilage, in case you were thinking it’s only found in animals whose knuckles we like to pickle or throw in the soup pot.
For those of us who have lost our beloved cartilage, you know who we are. Just watch folks in public and you can spot us, the cranky hobblers. Not only are we slow-moving, but constantly exclaiming: aigu, aiyah, arai, auwe, etc. My alphabetical list goes on, but I’m limited in number of words for this column. You can see that we creak and shuffle but also have to moan and groan while we’re at it.
There is unfortunately not much information on how we can prevent the loss of joint cartilage in the first place, other than to not physically overdo any activity. This is why I sit on my fat ‘okole all day long. Just following doctor’s orders.
Common knowledge up to now is that once we lose cartilage, it’s gone. However, modern medicine offers us the opportunity to get retrofitted with new titanium joints such as the one now implanted in my right hip.
But more good news! Science is reporting successful experiments to grow cartilage in arthritic joints of mice! Researchers at a major university announced that dormant cells at the end of mouse bones can be stimulated to grow! They also added that once these mice grew new cartilage, they stopped “limping and grimacing”!
You can see why I felt the need for a record number of exclamation points in one paragraph. These are promising results for makule with lolo joints such as myself. But, as one whose rapidly deteriorating brain is still marginally functioning, I am cautious about celebrating just yet.
First of all, do we determine that mice are arthritic just by watching them limp around? Perhaps they’re dancing. And even though scientists claim that mice have facial expressions, how do we know when they’re grimacing? Maybe they’re smiling, happy to have invented new dance steps! Creative expression often generates happiness. I for one, am grinning right now and would be prancing around if only I could. Of course, my housemate of a hundred years might mistake my grin for a grimace as he often does. He should have been a scientist.
There’s also a recent report on mice that were sent into space and returned to Earth with their body mass still intact. These so-called “mighty mice” did not suffer muscle or bone loss after twirling around for a month at a space station, re-entering with “ripped bodybuilder physiques.” Once again, I am curious how one measures abs and pecs on minuscule mice, but that’s just me.
You’re probably wondering where this is headed. Me too as I land back on planet Earth with a thump, forced to face a nonstop pandemic, a lying leader who cannot lead, a grim prognosis on economic recovery, and upcoming elections with national and international interference. Whoa. Bumpy landing, eh?
So, I mahalo local newspapers for printing mice stories because they made me laugh during these unimaginable times that no science fantasy could have created. Hope I was able to contribute to the distraction for a brief moment.
Now, back to the real world.
Fasten your seat belt.
Rochelle delaCruz was born in Hilo, graduated from Hilo High School, then left to go to college. After teaching for 30 years in Seattle, Wash., she retired and returned home to Hawaii. She welcomes your comments at rainysideview@gmail.com. Her column appears every other Monday.